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Corporate Culture, Cyber Risk Are Top of Mind for D&O UnderwritersTransparency and culture awareness were the key takeaways from a panel discussion on top directors and officers’ claims trends that took place at this year’s Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS) annual conference in San Diego. An audience poll at the …POSTED JANUARY 21, 2019 6:00 AM

Oklahoma Securities Agency’s Computer Files Breached, Firm SaysThe Oklahoma agency that protects investors from fraud is investigating whether its data was breached after a cybersecurity research team discovered that a computer server had left millions of files unsecured and open to the public. Oklahoma Department of Securities …POSTED JANUARY 18, 2019 5:47 PM

South Carolina Capitol City Bans Electric ScootersSouth Carolina’s capitol city has banned electric scooters for a year while the city studies the operation of companies providing the service. News outlets reported Columbia City Council voted Tuesday to prohibit the use of electric scooters to protect the …POSTED JANUARY 18, 2019 5:36 PM

California OK’s Pot Deliveries into Communities that Ban SalesCalifornia has endorsed a rule that will allow home marijuana deliveries statewide, even into communities that have banned commercial pot sales. The regulation by the state Bureau of Cannabis Control was opposed by police chiefs and other critics who predict …POSTED JANUARY 18, 2019 4:40 PM

California Insurance Commissioner Names Executive TeamCalifornia Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara announced new members of his executive team, including the first Latina chief deputy in the history of the California Department of Insurance. The new executive team members join an existing leadership team. “I am proud …POSTED JANUARY 18, 2019 4:34 PM

Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines

BEIJING (AP) — A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters crucial for global commerce and rich in fish and potential oil and gas reserves:

Fuel thieves punctured the Tula-Tuxpan pipeline a few miles from one of Mexico's main refineries on Friday. Half a dozen people interviewed by Reuters on Saturday said their relatives went to the leaking duct in Tlahuelilpan district in Hidalgo state because they struggled to find fuel elsewhere and were desperate to fill up cars to get to work or run their farms. Late last month, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador launched a program to shut down an illegal fuel distribution network that siphons off about $3 billion worth of fuel annually from state oil firm Pemex.

Israeli airstrikes in Syria killed 11 Iranian and pro-regime fighters on Monday, in the most serious direct confrontation between Iran and Israel in the last six months. Israeli warplanes attacked bases belonging to Iran’s elite Quds Force after an Iranian missile was fired from Syria towards the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights on Sunday, the Israeli military said. The Iranian missile was reportedly fired in response to Israeli air raids carried out inside Syria earlier in the day on Sunday. By Monday morning, the situation appeared calm but Israeli forces were on high alert and both sides were watching for any signs of a fresh escalation. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said the Israeli attacks had killed 11 people, including Iranian troops, Hizbollah fighters, and at least two Syrians. It was the highest death toll from Israeli raids since May 2018, when waves of Israeli airstrikes killed at least 23 Iranian and Syria fighters. Israeli army Merkava tanks gather in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, on January 20, 2019 Credit: JALAA MAREY/AFP Israel is determined to continue its campaign to stop Iran from entrenching in Syria despite Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw US forces from the country. It warned the Syrian regime that it “was putting itself at risk” by allowing Iranian forces to use its territory for strikes against Israel. The head of Iran’s air force, Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh, responded that his forces were “impatient to confront the Zionist regime and eliminate it from the Earth”. The escalation appears to have begun on Sunday afternoon when Israeli aircraft carried out a rare daylight operation against targets inside Syria. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) refused to comment on whether they struck first. At around 3pm Iranian forces fired a midrange surface-to-surface missile from Damascus towards the Golan Heights, where thousands of Israelis were skiing on Mount Hermon, according to the IDF. The Iranian missile was shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome defence system. Israeli skiers recorded video of a pair of interceptor missiles streaking over the ski slopes towards their target. There were no injuries on the Israeli side. “We saw that as an unacceptable attack by Iranian troops - not proxies, not Shia militias, not Syrian forces, but Iranian troops firing an Iranian-made missile,” said Lt Col Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli spokesman. What is believed to be guided missiles are seen in the sky during what is reported to be an attack in Damascus, Syria Credit: Reuters He said Israeli intelligence showed the missile strike was “premeditated” in that Iran had brought the missile to Syria with the intent of firing it at Israel, rather than using it in the internal Syrian conflict. Israel launched three waves of airstrikes against Quds Force targets, including their main weapons depot at Damascus airport, which they used to supply their own troops and Hizbollah fighters, the IDF said. Israel said it had informed the Syrian regime via Russia that it was targeting Iranian bases and warned Syrian forces not to fire on Israeli aircraft. But Syrian air defence systems nonetheless fired dozens of missiles at the attacking Israeli jets. Israel said it then struck Syrian regime targets in response. “This regime is putting itself at risk by allowing the Iranians extensive and almost unlimited use of Syrian facilities,” the IDF said. “Syria yesterday paid a price for allowing Iran to plan and conduct attacks from its soil.” Israel has carried out thousands of strikes against Iranian and Hizbollah targets inside Syria as part of its effort to keep Iran from entrenching its forces in the Arab state. The attacks have mostly been carried out in secret but Israel has become increasingly vocal in recent weeks, with both Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and senior military officers referring publicly to the strikes. So far, Israel has been able to carry out its operations without sparking a full-blown war but international observers fret that one day a miscalculation by either side could lead a much larger conflict.

A strong 6.7-magnitude earthquake hit north-central Chile on Saturday, the US Geological Survey said, with police reporting the deaths of two people from heart attacks. The quake struck at a depth of 53 kilometers (33 miles) with an epicenter some 15 km southwest of Coquimbo, USGS said. An elderly man and an elderly woman from Coquimbo suffered cardiac arrests as a result of the quake, police said, while there were several landslides reported on national highways.

France's data watchdog on Monday announced a fine of 50 million euros ($57 million) for US search giant Google, using the EU's strict General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for the first time. Google was handed the record fine from the CNIL regulator for failing to provide transparent and easily accessible information on its data consent policies, a statement said. The CNIL said Google made it too difficult for users to understand and manage preferences on how their personal information is used, in particular with regards to targeted advertising.

US federal workers who are not getting paid during the longest government shutdown in the country's history are increasingly turning to pawnbrokers for short-term loans, according to shop owners. The turnout is small – a few people per day – pawnbrokers said, but many expect the numbers to increase amid the stalemate. About 800,000 federal workers have missed a paycheck during the nearly month-long shutdown.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon used an Arab economic summit on Sunday to call for the return of Syrian refugees to safe areas of their war-torn country, where the nearly eight-year civil war is still underway despite a recent series of government victories.

POSTED JANUARY 20, 2019 12:08 PM

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